The present invention is directed to a method for joining the ends of a belt to make it endless, for example, a papermachine screen, and a slide apparatus for carrying out said method. The method of the invention is applicable in all cases where two belt ends have loops or bights which are interlocked in the fashion of a zipper with a pintle wire inserted into the passage formed by the meshing bights, loops or windings.
In connection with papermachine screens, it has been known to back-weave the warp thread ends of flat-woven screens so that loops are formed at the screen ends which can then be joined in the manner described above by the insertion of a pintle wire. Moreover, spirals can be sewn to the ends of a flat-woven papermachine screen so that the ends can be joined by means of a pintle wire. In all these methods the principal problem involves holding the ends of the belt or papermachine screen in proper spaced relation with respect to each other so that the bights, loops or windings of the two ends can be intermeshed with each other and subsequently held in the intermeshed position until the pintle wire can be inserted. Since the ends of a papermachine screen are frequently joined after the screen has been threaded into the paper making machine, no bulky apparatus can be used to connect the ends.
French Patent No. 2,339,806 discloses a method by which such a spiral seam can be made. In order to hold the two screen ends in proper spaced relation for making the spiral seam, one half of a zipper is mounted to each screen end. The two screen ends are joined by closing the zipper to hold the screen ends in position. The windings of the spirals are then intermeshed and the pintle wire is passed therethrough. The problem arising with this method is that the zipper halves must be fastened to the screen at the proper distance from the ends thereof so that the windings of two spirals can be properly positioned relative to each other.